Nonqaba said ...

Discard counselor? What is that? I found it in a novel, so it must be man-made or woman-made. Octavia, a character in the book has a part-time job. She goes to people’s homes and tells them what to throw away. It’s something I don’t understand, like interior decorators. You buy a house, something small, with four bedrooms, four bathrooms which includes the guest bathroom downstairs, a country kitchen with a pantry and a top floor which could be used as an apartment. Yes, something small like that. After buying it you bring in an interior decorator to decorate it for you. Interior decorators are humans so they have their view of the world, colour and art. They might have ostentatious ideas inspired by your wealth, but do not demonstrate your personality. No, that doesn’t happen, you say. I will give them specs of what I want. Families in one bed-room apartments and basements will laugh at the idea of paying somebody to make a home, a home.  They don’t have anybody to tell them where to

South Africa. Nellie Tembe's funeral. She is said to have committed suicide  by jumping out of a hotel window, naked. Parents, friends and relatives cry at funerals. It’s more painful when parents look dazed, and don’t shed any tears. This happens a lot when kids die because of how they ‘lived’ online, the current initiation platform. Parents are clueless about why sons and daughters are glued to phones, playing piano with their fingers. Parents at the grave side look dazed because they don’t understand how their daughter died near a river @ night, naked. If that is not enough, they don’t understand how their daughter threw herself out of a hotel window, naked. A good example is Nellie Tembe, a South African young woman who was a girlfriend to a rapper. She supposedly did just that, committed suicide without any clothes on. Even if she wanted to kill herself, parents don’t understand why she would do that, naked. Parents look dazed at funerals because of two worlds. 1.  They brough

Pic: Nonqaba waka Msimang. H ollywood used to make movies about bank robbers, the bad guys, conveniently forgetting that banks, are bona fide  bad guys. The only difference is that bank robbers used guns while banks use pieces of paper. Please sign here. The pandemic is a good example of how banks continue to rob us. Covid-19 gatecrashed our life in 2020. We were told to avoid touching each other, grandparents, doors, grocery carts that are not sanitized and money, because the virus might be hiding somewhere. Stores and pharmacies posted signs that they prefer plastic money cards, not cash. Some refused cash outright. This led to the increase use of debit cards. There are two kinds of people, those that prefer to pay in paper money and silver coins and those that swipe their cards for everything, including a can of soda. I prefer using cash for things under $10, but COVID-19 changed that. Banks could not believe the windfall. They laughed all the way to the bank, if we could put it tha

When I was a full time journalist, I always prepared 10 questions for the interview, whether it was radio, television, newspapers or magazines. I had producers and editors that liked the idea. In one radio station, my producer was always amused when politicians begged to be on the show. It was that popular. How did you make him answer that question?  I used to get that a lot and listeners did not believe me when I said it was in the ten questions. Politicians have media advisors, who know that it’s not a good idea to reject controversial questions. The list of questions is like a coin. It has two sides: good for you, the person doing the interview and your guests. 1.  Guests are comfortable because they know the line of questioning. They think there are 10 questions but the interviewer knows it’s just one. 2.  Because they’re comfortable, guests can reveal unknown personal or business mini secrets. This contributes to the interviewer’s  popularity. 3.  Interviewer can anticipate answer

I’m going to see a shrink, as soon as I win the Lotto. I have a problem, a paper problem. Almost everything is electronic now, but I keep tons of paper in this rudimentary home office. I still get some paper receipts and notices delivered by Canada Post. Other receipts are from devious stores. They have all kinds of tricks. “Do you want your receipt or should we e-mail it?” They think they are slick. I’m supposed to give you my e-mail address right? Is it in the constitution? I came, I saw, maybe I tried on something, I bought. Period. That’s the end of the relationship.  Why do you want my e-mail? Now back to the filing mess, in this home office. Why do I keep the following when they are also sent to my computer? 1.  Pay slips from old jobs. I was fired from some of them. Chaayi! 2.  Tax returns from donkey years ago. 3.  Post office receipts. I sent parcels and books to some people. Confirmation is online so why am I keeping the paper trail? 4.  Bank statements. Monthly statements ar

Book : Fire Keeper’s Daughter, #10 Last Book Review. Author : Angeline Boulley Publishers : Henry Holt and Company Reviewed by : Nonqaba waka Msimang N’Daunis . It means my daughter. That’s what her father, an Ojibwe hockey player said when the storyteller was born. Daunis keeps fit by running most days and has a routine. “Prayers begin with offering semaa and sharing my Spirit name, clan and where I am from. I always add an extra name to make sure the Creator knows who I am. A name that connects me to my father - because I began as a secret, and then a scandal.” Page 5, Chapter 1. What’s in a name? A lot. That’s why I’m sad that this is my last book review and I still don’t know what a fire keeper is. Her father’s last name is Fire Keeper. His sister Aunt Teddie, a judge at the Tribal Council is also Fire Keeper. But that’s where the problem is, regarding Fire Keeper as a surname, a last name, when in fact, it’s the introduction to a family’s origin. I can relate to that because durin

Book : Fire Keeper’s Daughter Review 9 Author : Angeline Boulley Publishers : Henry Holt and Company Reviewed by : Nonqaba waka Msimang Author Fire Keeper's Daughter. “We are descendants - rather than enrolled - members of the Sugar Island Ojibwe Tribe …. even though our faces are pressed against the glass, looking in from outside.” Page 18. Daunis is talking about herself and her best friend Lily, because both have one Ojibwe parent and one white parent. This review will concentrate on ‘ looking in from outside .’ Although it’s fiction, the author seamlessly knits the story about hockey players doing meth a hard drug, with real life for indigenous people in Canada and U.S. Because readers like me are ‘ looking in from outside ’ we tend to think most Anishinaabe - indigenous people - live in “Indian reservations.” We tend to think they are terrible places where Anishinaabe are dumped and forgotten. Sugar Island is the reservation in the book. Daunis is no stranger there because it’

Atandwa Kani (top), is an actor like his father John Kani. Chadwick Boseman Black Panther star looks like Atandwa. Amazing casting. YouTube is something you watch. I had my own YouTube, my father. He was a painter and a carpenter. He didn’t paint people’s houses, but he sold the window pelmets he made, with little me handing him saws, nails and hammers of different sizes. My dad was my YouTube. He brought home funny food. He called it spaghetti and macaroni. It was funny because we were born and raised in Africa and it was not in our diet. Dad showed me how to boil spaghetti and how to prevent it from sticking to each other. Justin Trudeau is Canada’s Prime Minister. He watched a human YouTube, his father, Pierre Trudeau who was Canada’s Prime Minister for 15 years. Justin grew up to be just like his father, a prime minister. Atandwa Kani has a YouTube dad. He grew up in South Africa watching his father John Kani, an actor famous for doing justice to stage and film roles. Father and so

Book : Fire Keeper’s Daughter Review 8 Author : Angeline Boulley Publishers : Henry Holt and Company Reviewed by : Nonqaba waka Msimang The book is set in Canada and the U.S. Daunis, the narrator was born in Montreal Canada, but grew up in the U.S. People in both countries cross the border everyday, going shopping and running other errands. A nice surprise for readers born in Africa, is finding Anishinaabe (indigenous people) belief systems that are in sync with African teachings. Before we do that, here’s a short synopsis for visitors who missed the 7 previous book reviews. Daunis is planning to be a medical doctor. She also loves hockey, an inheritance from her father, an Ojibwe hockey player. Her mother is white but Daunis is in tune with her Ojibwe roots thanks to Teddie Firekeeper, her father’s sister who lives on Sugar Island, an Indian reservation. Her Ojibwe ancestry might be the answer to why young hockey players are doing meth, a hard drug. The side effects are even more baff

This winter is going to be very expensive. Why? We need to buy new coats because the ones we have do not fit anymore. Why again? There is a pandemic and the subsequent 2020 lockdown, made us homing pigeons. Home all day to eat, drink and eat again. Supermarkets made a killing on food. This led to generous portions on our plates and snack time was every 30 minutes. The result is a little expansion on our arms and the tummy area. As for pants, zippers refuse to go up. Preliminary audit.  Which coats and jackets still fit? Once you’ve determined that, take your maInourished credit card for a walk. I know you are an online shopper, but you must visit the shopping mall for a new coat so that you can try it on. Online bargains can be frustrating because of the cut. You ordered Size 14, but the coat refuses to go up your arm. I don’t know why some jackets are straight. Do factories think the arm is straight like a long broom handle? The arm nearer the shoulder is bigger than the arm next to t

Pic: Nonqaba waka Msimang. The trio I saw walking on the footpath above the river one morning, reminded me how ungrateful I am. They were blind. It was a brilliant sunny day with trees in their lime green finery and the river laughing at them from below. ‘ Time is running out fall leaves. You’ll do exactly that, fall from grace. ’ said the envious river, that shuffles in the same spot. Ungrateful because I didn't know how the three walkers realized it was a beautiful day, how they got dressed, took their white sticks with little balls, left home and came to the open gym. The river path and the whole park is like an exercise center with walkers, joggers, rude cyclists, parents with strollers and people walking dogs. Ungrateful, that’s what I am. This feeling intensified when I saw the trio walking down the stairs from the eating area to the river bank. How do they do that? Even seasoned runners look down when they run up and down those stairs. I’m sure the three walkers enjoyed anot

Book : Fire Keeper’s Daughter Review 7 Author : Angeline Boulley Publishers : Henry Holt and Company Reviewed by : Nonqaba waka Msimang The reader is mad. At the FBI. Do publishers force the FBI angle on writers? I think they do, because of cinema. Such movies are the same. You might as well leave with the rest of your popcorn because you know how the movie will unfold. This is the infamous FBI which failed to detect that Donald Trump followers were going to invade Congress on 6 January 2021, to stop Biden from being crowned U.S. President. I digress from the review of Fire Keeper's Daughter . Daunis, our host in the book lives on the mainland with her mother and grandmother. They are Zhaaganaash ,  white in Ojibwe. Daunis also spends time on Sugar Island with her aunt and grandmother who are Anishinaabe , which means indigenous people.                    Daunis is a hockey player just like her Ojibwe father. What is the book all about? I’m a reader. I do as I please. That’s why I

Pouring concrete on foundation. Online pic. J unior High School kids can learn a lot about the word foundation, if they visited a construction site that is building family homes. Construction sites are not the same. Some are massive, like building a block of flats, office towers, bridges, highways etc. Housing developments are smaller and can accommodate visitors but such an educational tour would be a bad idea. Why? l  Safety.  Construction workers wear hard hats for a good reason. There is hanging stuff which might fall on someone’s head. l  Uneven ground . Construction workers wear thick boots because the site is uneven ground, not nicely paved like a suburban road. l  Class size . Classes are bigger than 10, which will be too big for a construction site to safely show kids around. l  Parents . Parent will be up in arms. My son, a construction worker? Hell no! But, if Junior High could visit a construction site, they would appreciate the word, foundation. After all, they don’t like

Book : Fire Keeper’s Daughter Review 6 Author : Angeline Boulley Publishers : Henry Holt and Company Reviewed by : Nonqaba waka Msimang “My life goes more smoothly when Hockey World and Regular World don’t overlap. Same with my Fontaine and Firekeeper worlds.” P.26. That is what Daunis Fontaine the main character says to Lily her best friend. The Firekeeper world she’s referring to, is her father, an Ojibwe hockey player her French and Italian grandparents hated. As a reader, I don’t agree with the above quote. The more I read, the more I’m convinced that the two worlds are joined at the hip. Daunis grew up in a white world, with her rich grandparents, her mother and Uncle David. Uncle David died mysteriously while doing research on mushrooms. There’s a problem in the Hockey World. Meth, a hard drug laced with mushrooms is spreading in hockey towns and Indian reservations like Sugar Island, where Daunis' Ojibwe grandmother lives. The book is 488 pages and what I’ve read so far, lea

Book : Fire Keeper’s Daughter Review 5 Author : Angeline Boulley Publishers : Henry Holt and Company Reviewed by : Nonqaba waka Msimang “Autumn is a fickle season. Sometimes lingering, sometimes making only a brief appearance.” Page 267. Daunis, a hockey player like her late father is the storyteller in the book. Jamie and his uncle Ron, are two outsiders who make a brief appearance in the Sault Ste. Marie Superiors hockey team, where her brother Levi, is the team captain. Maybe I shouldn’t say brief because I’m still in the belly of the book. I haven’t reached page 488 yet. But I’m saying brief because for all intent and purposes,  Jamie and his uncle Ron seem to be captivating like autumn but fleeting, not solid. Jamie is young and beautiful despite a deep scar on his face. Daunis is sweet on him, after her break-up with TJ Kewadin , a cop on Sugar Island, the local reservation where her Ojibwe grandmother lives.  Like autumn leaves, Jamie has no stationary love colour. Is he in love

There is general demand for things everybody needs, like winter gloves in countries north of the Equator. Then there is class-based demand, for a small section of the population with surplus money or certain lifestyles. The two are not interchangeable because there are frugal millionaires who prefer to be under the shade about where and how they live. Dishwashers. We will assume that during product development, someone said dishwashers will come in handy after dinner parties. The meal is a sum total of strips: appetizers, main course and dessert, served on designated bowls and plates. Cutlery, glasses and cups also add to dirty dishes. Dishwashers are not essential. That’s why we don’t buy them ourselves. We find them in new houses, rental apartments and condos we bought when some developer turned a factory into a condominium building. Despite their ‘free’ presence, we don’t use them because the lifestyle has changed. People stopped entertaining at home. They don’t have elaborate dinne

Melvin van Peebles, father of Blaxploitation movies, passed on 2021 September.  Online pic: with Mario his son, also a movie director and producer. Grandparents sell the house to move into smaller accommodation. Grandchildren can help. One grandparent passes on to the next life. The remaining one sells the home that hosted many Thanksgiving dinners and moves into a condo complex. Grandchildren can help. Whatever the case, there are lots of boxes and suitcases to open to reveal clothes that look like they are from horror or Blaxploitation movies. Grandchildren  will find them hilarious but it is family history, sports history, music history and what was happening in the country at the time. Grandchildren helping grandparents is highly unlikely because the youth find old depressing. It’s worse in the digital age because Google and YouTube are default parents. I found my own grandparents boring, now look at me, having so many questions but no one to answer them. Mama applied some blackmai

Book : Fire Keeper’s Daughter Author : Angeline Boulley Publishers : Henry Holt and Company Reviewed by : Nonqaba waka Msimang Daunis, the teenager in the book is a science student and a health freak. She runs most mornings and ends up in a nursing home, where her white grandmother, is a resident. Her paternal grandmother is Ojibwe and lives in Sugar Hill, an Indian reservation. “My Zhaaganaash and Anishinaabe grandmothers could not have been more different. One viewed the world as its surface, while the other saw connections and teachings that run deeper than our known world. Their push and pull on me has been a tug-of-war my entire life.” Pages 10-11. In the three reviews before this one, we said the book is anchored in hockey and mushrooms, representatives of the pull and push Daunis is talking about. Then there’s a problem. Meth, a hard drug finds its way into hockey towns and Indian reservations. Lily, Daunis’ best fried is shot by Travis her boyfriend, who was using meth. The dru